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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29345073">Matoba</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poinsettia/pseuds/Poinsettia'>Poinsettia</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Birds of a feather... [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:10:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,124</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29345073</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poinsettia/pseuds/Poinsettia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The young head of the Matoba clan, Matoba Seiji, learns about the existence of a  boy named Natsume Takashi.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Birds of a feather... [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1426387</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Matoba</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There weren’t many people that Matoba Seiji respected. He supposed it came with the position. After all, it was hard to respect someone when you were twenty-three years old and already one of the most competent exorcists in Asia—and that wasn’t Seiji being arrogant, just painfully honest. </p><p>Among the handful of persons Seiji <i>did</i> respect, Nanase was at the top of the list. The woman was infinitely pragmatic, quite a skilful exorcist and loyal to a fault to his family. Despite their considerable age difference, she had never looked down on Seiji nor had she ever resented his superior abilities. As far as the older woman was concerned, respect wasn’t something you earned with age, but with ability and dedication to the job. Since Seiji had both in spades, Nanase had gladly become his chief of staff two years ago when Seiji’s father passed away leaving him in charge of the powerful Matoba clan.</p><p>One cold November afternoon, after a meeting with a group of delegates from some minor exorcist families, Nanase reached for a file at the bottom of the stack of documents she had brought with her to Seiji’s office and placed it on his desk.</p><p>“There’s something else I would like to discuss with you, Matoba-sama.”</p><p>The uncharacteristic hesitance in her voice caught Seiji’s attention.</p><p>“Is everything all right?” he asked her.</p><p>“There’s a child that… might be of interest to the Matoba family”.</p><p>Opening the file, Seiji saw a candid photo of an elementary school boy sitting at a park bench. The boy seemed to be staring at something out of frame, and there was a weariness in his face that Seiji found unusual in someone so young. </p><p>“His name is Natsume Takashi,” Nanase told him.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>*  *  *  *  *</p>
</div>The Tanakas’ residence was the type of generic house one could find everywhere in middle-class, urban Japan. It was a small two-story affair with prefabricated walls of pale beige, a small balcony on the second floor, and a handful of flowerpots by the entrance door in lieu of a garden. All in all, it was a very common and dull structure, designed to pass unnoticed among the row of equally common and dull houses in this non-descriptive piece of suburbia.<p>Seiji could very well see how a boy like Natsume Takashi wouldn’t be welcome at such a place.</p><p>Over the phone, the Tanakas had been all too eager to ‘explore the possibility’ of what amounted to getting rid of a boy that jeopardized their dreadfully normal life. </p><p>“He makes the neighbours uncomfortable,” they had told him. “And he scares the other children.” Which Seiji had interpreted to mean that people were talking and the Tanakas’ reputation was at stake.</p><p>As he descended from the vehicle with Nanase right behind him, Seiji saw a trio of women watching them from the other side of the street. With grocery bags hanging from their arms, they weren’t discreet about it. And why should they be? It was obvious, from the black Mercedes, to the chauffeur holding the door, to Seiji’s sleek business suit and Nanase’s elegant grey kimono that they didn’t belong there. Seiji had no doubts that by tomorrow morning everybody and their dog would know about the Tanakas’ mysterious visitors. </p><p>Directing a charming smile to the staring women, Seiji rang the doorbell.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>*  *  *  * *</p>
</div>A quiet “I’m home” was followed by soft footsteps that stopped at the entrance of the living room where Seiji and Nanase had been invited to sit.<p>“Ah, Takashi-kun! Good timing! Come in, my boy!” </p><p>Natsume Takashi was a small thing with too-thin limbs and an overly pale face. He was dressed cleanly, yet in worn, ill-fitting clothes, most probably hand-me-downs. Still, he was a beautiful child, with striking caramel eyes and hay-coloured hair. </p><p>Those eyes now wore an unsure expression, making it obvious to Seiji that the boy didn’t buy the false joviality in his uncle’s voice anymore that he did.</p><p>As Seiji observed him, the flicker of an unknown emotion crossed the boy’s face. Pain? Fear? </p><p>“Should I go get my things?” the boy whispered.</p><p>Ah, resignation.</p><p>Natsume’s uncle laughed uncomfortably as he darted a glance to Seiji, while his aunt turned to Nanase exclaiming, “Boys these days!”, as she fanned her hand.</p><p>What she meant by that, Seiji didn’t care. He was busy watching the boy as he attempted not to pay attention at the <i>shiki</i> standing behind Seiji. Little Natsume was doing an admirable job of ignoring it, but Seiji had caught the tension in his small shoulders when his <i>shiki</i> had strained its long neck to sniff the child—a curious reaction that Seiji filed away in his mind for later perusal.</p><p>Thankfully, Nanase took control of the situation and asked the child’s relatives if they could talk with their nephew in private. “Standard procedure,” she told them. “We interview all prospects.”</p><p>The ease with which the Tanakas agreed to Nanase’s request spoke louder of their indifference and neglect of their nephew than any document Seiji had read from the research into the family’s affairs that Nanase had conducted before coming to him with her findings. No caring guardian would agree to let their charge alone with two unknown adults. And they would have certainly done a more thorough examination of the fake credentials and documents they had presented them with. </p><p>In fact, they had been so eager to get rid of the child that neither had they questioned the sudden phone call from a ‘private foundation’ which provided ‘difficult orphaned children’ with a place to ‘live and thrive’. And the fake foundation’s website created for this purpose had turned out to be a waste of time, as the Tanakas hadn’t even bother to look at it before signing the papers Nanase had showed them. In them, it was stated that the couple transferred the custody of one Natsume Takashi to Kato Hiroshi, director of the Rainbow Boarding School of the Shibata Foundation.</p><p>The Matoba family wasn’t exactly affectionate—some would even describe them as cold, but even Seiji was appalled at the lack of care exhibited by Natsume’s relatives. </p><p>As Seiji watched the Tanakas leave the room and the resigned expression in Natsume’s face when the door closed behind them, for the first time in his life Seiji felt… protective.</p><p>“Would you sit with us?” he told the boy, indicating with his hand the place the boy’s uncle had left empty. “My name is Matoba Seiji, and the lady next to me is my assistant, Nanase”.</p><p>Natsume took a cautious step forward only to stop when Seiji’s <i>shiki</i> moved in its place.</p><p> “It’s all right, it won’t hurt you,” Seiji told the boy.</p><p>And at Natsume’s startled expression, he added, “Yes, we can see them, too.”</p>
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